Are You Inspired?

Without thinking about it for too long-what is the first thing that pops into your mind when you wake up in the morning? It is; oh no! or Oh Yes! And don’t try to tell yourself that it is neither because that just isn’t so. All your thoughts whether they are thoughts of getting them family off for the day, getting yourself together or whatever, have their root in a feeling of oh no or oh yes.

If the answer is oh yes, that’s great, you are either achieving your goals or well on your way. So obviously if the answer is no then some adjustments need to be made. What adjustments? That totally depends on you.

You can start, today, to change any aspect of your life that is less than fulfilling. No matter where you are or what you do, you can find something that brings you joy; in your work, in your hobbies, in your home, it really does not matter as long as it is something that you love doing, being or having. And that feeling of joy will carry over into the parts of your life that you are less than inspired by. Someone told me once that life is like a sandwich; if you eat the crust first then all that is left is the best tasting part of the sandwich. How does that relate to being inspired? When you know that you have that thing that you love then you can joyfully take care of the less appealing responsibilities of your life and that just the thought of your source of happiness (the center of the sandwich) begins to permeate your life because you know you have it so you will wake up and say YES!

Reflecting

So the new year is almost here and that means it is time to schedule a review of the past year. Time to sit down with your goal list and your journal and see if you hit all your goals, to see if you spent the year doing the things that take you to success and happiness.

But that does not mean that if you discover that you didn’t meet your goals you should feel guilty. Not at all. All that it would mean is that you need to take a look at your why and take a harder look at your goal list.

Are you sitting there thinking ‘Why? What does she mean why!” Your why is what gets you up in the morning, it what keeps you in action even when you aren’t seeing results yet. And it needs to be strong enough to pull you over the hurdles of life. And your why can change so that another reason to do the year end review.

Think about what is referred to as ‘empty nesters’ Usually these are people who used their children as their why and when the children are gone they have a period of adjustment. Apollo astronauts were reported to have become depressed after accomplishing their mission because they achieved their goals and didn’t have other items on their lists. Their why was all wrapped up in the mission.

When you are doing this review, you should be looking not only at the goals you hit but also the ones you almost hit. And then take a look at the ones you never even got close on; are they really things that you want to do? And if they are, then why aren’t they done? It may be that it is time for a whole new set of goals, things that you really want. After you finish making that new goal list ask yourself; what will having this do for me? What will it mean to achieve this? Get clear on why you want what you want and you will find that getting it is easier than you thought.

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone the merriest of Christmas’ and a happy new year, and to leave you with one thought to ponder;

For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

What is it that you think in your heart?

Tis the Season

It has been reported that many people fall into depression around this time of year. Some think its because of the holidays, some because of the short, cold days of winter but it really doesn’t matter what they say the cause is-depression is not a good thing.

Did you notice that I used the terminology ‘fall into depression’? That is because depression is like a hole in the ground, if you stand too close to the edge of the hole, the ground can give way and you can fall into that hole. What do I mean? Well, depression starts with dark thoughts; thoughts of bad things, bad times, bad whatever. Everyone has a bad day every once in a while, but if you can’t shake that off and look forward instead of at what happened--looking into the past, then you will soon find is that all you think about are the things that are less than pleasing to you. Do that for long enough and you will become depressed. And yeah, I know that people sometimes have really bad things happen but I also know that everyone has something good that they can keep their attention on instead of focusing on problems.

Oh you say that depression is biological and the medical community does not define a cause? The mind and body link has been clearly documented in medical studies, over and over again.

So what am I saying? No matter what your circumstances are there is much for you to be grateful for, much for you to be happy about and if you think about these good things and never allow yourself to dwell on any negative things, you will never ‘fall’ into depression and who knows, great things might just begin to happen for you. If this is a challenge remember the best way to get past a rough patch is to find something that is bigger than your problem, find someone that needs your help, find a project that you love to do, find something that makes you look outside instead of inside for things to think about.

Got Your Mind Made Up?

What could you do if you made up your mind you were going to do it? The answer is pretty much anything. Anything. And here is the secret to getting what you want; don’t give up. It really is true that quitters never win and winners never quit. That is reality even if you think it sounds trite.

I’ll give you a few examples; Col Harlan Sanders got 1009s No’s before he got his first yes.  Thomas Edison found over 1000 ways the incandescent bulb would NOT work before he found one way that would. Henry Ford went bankrupt more than once before he founded the Ford Motor Company. One thing they all had in common was that they never quit.

I share this information to remind you that you will have some challenges. Everything will not be perfect but if you don’t quit or give up, you will end up with success. So here is another example;  you. When each and every one of us was born, we could not walk, we could not talk, feed or clothe our self nor drive and countless other skills I could mention and yet little by little we learned to do these things. We never gave up we just tried until we succeeded. Failure was never even an option. If we could walk we were going to do it. If we could speak, we did. And at each of our endeavors we practiced until we got good at it. Two things were going on then. Determination and effort.

And that is how it is in life. No matter if you find a way that doesn’t work or even a thousand. If it takes more than a day, a week or a year, no matter how spectacularly you fail, if you stay determined, stay in belief and keep taking action, you will succeed.

‘Word Association’

Today I was listening to one of my Jim Rohn audios and it just so happened that it was one where he speaks of influence. In essence he says; who am I around? What have they got me saying? What have they got me thinking? and Is that okay? Good questions right?

But not only are these questions about the people you are around, live and in person, these are questions about what you watch on the television, what you listen to on the radio, and read in newspapers and magazines.

What you watch, listen to, or read has every bit as much influence on you as the people you associate with. And that influence is critical to your health, your wealth and your happiness. You may think that there is no connection but let me illustrate.

An acquaintance of mine is having a challenge financially. He watches financial news networks every day & says the economy is to blame for his woes, while another acquaintance of mine, who watches no such programs has seen his business vastly increase this year. And I have a friend that listens to talk radio all day long. In conversation, the ideas and opinions he hears are evident. He also has a list of health issues as long as your arm. You don't see any connections? Negative information has a negative effect on you. Always. On the days he is unable to listen to the radio at work his list of ailments is shorter. Negative information creates dis-ease. Dis-ease is the source of disease. Happy people are healthy people. Nuff said?

So ask yourself; who am I around? What have they got me saying? What have they got me thinking? and Is that okay?

Forgive and Forget?

So if you read my last post and did the gratitude exercise its time to take that a step further. If you didn’t go read it now and make that list then come back.

Okay, now that we are all ready and we have our lists in front of us, look at the list and write on a separate sheet of paper how the things you are grateful for make you feel. If there is no passion in your gratitude then it is time for a shift. Usually that shift involves forgiveness. Yeah, I know. You don’t see the connection. You aren’t mad at the things you are thankful for so where am I going?

Anger and guilt are the two feelings that block most peoples joy. When you feel guilt or anger it clouds everything in your life. And here is the funny part of that; most people feel that anger and guilt for themselves. Oh sure, you might, well ok, you probably have anger for others but that pales in comparison to what you dish out to yourself.

And how do I know this? Take a look around you. See all those people who overeat? Are depressed? Drink too much? Maybe do drugs? Gamble a lot? Shop? This is only a partial list of self-destructive behaviors but it illustrates what I am saying about anger and guilt. Self-loathing is the cause for self-destruction and that comes from refusing to forgive yourself and others. You just have to let it go and start seeing the good in yourself. And in others.

And why am I going on and on about forgiving yourself when this post is really about forgiving others? Because when you start to see that you are your own worst critic, that you did internalize every critical word said to you by others, that you punish yourself for not being perfect, only then can you start to let go of that and understand that A) nobody is perfect B) everyone makes mistakes and C) most of us don’t do things that hurt others on purpose-we don’t set out to be ‘bad’ then you can choose to live a life of compassion and forgiveness, you can see that being human means being imperfect and that is never equal to being unlovable.

Learn to forgive yourself and forgiving others is a piece of cake. Start today. Write down what you are good at, what is good about you and what you can get better at with practice or determination. Change the way you look at yourself and the self you look at will change.

Rest in Peace Jim

If you are a fan of self growth then you have no doubt heard of Jim Rohn. If you have not, I strongly suggest that you find some of his material and study it because he was one of the greatest of our time. Think about that; one of the greatest of our time--in a time of giants.

Jim died over the weekend but he left a wealth of audios, videos and books which contain enough information to fill a library. My own personal library has quite a bit of Jim in it and I cherish every bit of it.

I leave you with a few of Jim's quotes;

For things to change, you have to change. For things to get better, you have to get better.

What happens, happens to us all. Its what you do about what happens....

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you.

Profits are better than wages. Wages make you a living; profits make you a fortune.

Affirmation without discilpine is the beginning of delusion.

Income seldom exceeds personal development.

What you become directly influences what you get.

Nothing teaches character better than generosity.